Joint ceasefire panel's help sought on jailbreakers

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The Army’s 6th Infantry Division yesterday asked the joint ceasefire committee to tap forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in tracking down the 11 inmates who bolted the old Maguindanao provincial jail here before dawn on Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Rey Ardo, 6th ID commander, said the joint ceasefire committee, composed of representatives of the MILF, the military and police, can mobilize guerrilla forces that can track down the fugitives, among them Datukan Samad, also known as “Lastikman.”

“Running after these escapees is the work of the police, but just the same, we have intelligence operatives now helping find them. Soldiers manning checkpoints along the national highway are now doing their part of the search,” Ardo said.

Ardo, however, said assistance from the joint ceasefire committee would hasten efforts in locating Samad and the other escapees.

The government and the MILF, under the 1997 agreement on the general cessation of hostilities, are to cooperate mutually in addressing peace and security concerns in areas where there are guerrilla enclaves.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu yesterday asked the national government to help him construct a new provincial jail on a 28-hectare land in Parang town following the jailbreak.

Mangudadatu has fired provincial jail warden Kasan Odin, and ordered the Maguindanao police to file charges against him if he is found to have connived with the escapees.

Mangudadatu said the provincial government has a property in Parang that can be developed into a well-guarded jail.     

Mangudadatu, however, said his office would need at least P50 million for the construction of the facility.

The provincial jail atop the PC Hill here was constructed more than 60 years ago and has never undergone any major rehabilitation.

“When you are locked in a jail like that, you would not stand the situation and in effect, contemplate on escaping. If we can have a provincial jail on a big tract of land in Parang, inmates can do exercises every day and expose themselves to sunlight and perhaps do some gardening in the surroundings,” Mangudadatu said.

Followers of Samad tried, but failed to spring him from the Kidapawan City jail early this year, killing three bystanders and wounding more than a dozen others in the process.

Samad was transferred to the Maguindanao provincial jail some three months ago after all the kidnapping, murder, highway robbery and cattle theft cases filed against him in North Cotabato courts were dismissed, as witnesses and his victims failed to cooperate in prosecuting him. 

Samad still has pending criminal cases in different courts in Maguindanao.

Local officials have asked Mangudadatu and the provincial government to offer a bounty for the recapture of Samad and his fellow jailbreakers.